Nothing is ever as black and white as we in the message board world sometime try to make it be.
Under Barta, we were able to get rid of Steve Alford who, for all intents and purposes, was never a good fit here. In fact, we were able to get rid of him without costing the University a penny. That's a positive. On the flipside, he followed it up with the worst hire in the history of Iowa basketball not named Dick Schultz. That's a fail. However, he was able to convince donors to pony up for a much needed basketball practice facility that his predecessor completely ignored in favor of all things football. That's a positive. He hired FM to be our new basketball coach and, so far, the trend is positive. However, he put the University on the hook for over $20M with a poorly negotiated contract extension for KF. No matter how much you like someone, you should never back yourself into a corner, contract-wise, that you are unable to get yourself out of should the time come. That's a fail. However, Barta has shown that, even in tough economic times, he is able to increase the donations into the athletic department...that's no easy feat and that's a positive.
So all in all, it's been a pretty mixed bag, as is most people's work history if you were to do a write up of your accomplishments and failures.
